In the field of medicine, various detecting devices and measuring devices are used to recognize the various phenomena that occur in the body of a patient as objective data. For example, blood pressure measurement is a most readily used measuring means and blood pressure measurement devices, etc. for general household use are commercially available. Normally, a medical practitioner obtains information on subjective symptoms from the chief complaints of a patient or by inquiry of the patient him/herself, collects objective information using various detecting devices and measuring devices, and provides a final diagnosis upon comprehensive examination of such information.
Pain is the most significant symptom among the subjective symptoms of the patient him/herself and a majority of patients complain of pain in initial diagnosis inquiries. A medical practitioner asks the patient questions on such matters as where the pain is, what sort of pain is being felt, etc. and specifies the location of pain and the type of pain. However, information on pain obtained by such inquiries is only obtained through verbal expressions of pain that is felt subjectively by the patient and cannot be regarded as objective data. In many years, research on the measurement of pain as objective data has been carried out in various fields. The pain signal is considered to be an electrical signal that is transmitted in the internal nervous system. For example, a conventional device was developed which uses a bridge circuit to detect the minute electric currents that flow through a needle inserted near a nerve so that pain felt by patients is obtained as an electrical signal. However, since a needle must be inserted into a portion where the patient is complaining of pain, such a device has not yet become practical for clinical use.
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a pain information detecting device with which information concerning pain can be obtained in the form of electrical signals by a simple method.